8 nuns die from COVID-19 at Milwaukee nursing home in one week

Eight residents of a nursing home for nuns in Milwaukee have died from COVID-19, the School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province said.

Provincial leader Debra Maria Sciano said the first died last week, four of whom died on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

“Even though they are older and most of the sisters who have come to God are in the late 80’s, 90’s … we didn’t expect them to leave so quickly,” she said. declared to the AP. “So it was very difficult for us.”

All of the sisters who tested positive were isolated and meals were brought to their rooms, Sciano said, although she declined to say how many of them tested positive for the virus in total. A similar outbreak was reported in July, where 13 nuns from a Detroit-area convent died. At Our Lady of the Angels Convent in Greenfield, Wisconsin, at least six have died, according to the AP.

Local officials have been in contact with the retirement home since November, Linda Wickstrom, spokesperson for the Waukesha County Department of Health and Human Services, told the AP. Wickstrom added that the School Sisters of Notre Dame disinfect surfaces that people touch frequently and wear masks.

“Given the extreme contagiousness of this virus, it is extremely important for communities to practice basic protocols to stop the spread of the disease,” she said.

The deaths recorded at the facility so far are sisters Rose M. Feess, Mary Elva Wiesner, Dorothy MacIntyre, Mary Alexius Portz, Cynthia Borman, Joan Emily Kaul, Lillia Langreck and Michael Marie Laux, according to the domicile. Sciano said that all of the sisters had worked as educators.

“We believe that each of these sisters and all of the sisters have really made a difference in this world,” she told the AP. “I just think it’s important that people know that and that they are committed until the end of their lives.”